Too Close for Comfort
by actionman81
Summary: What happens when Chris & Rita meet Alex & Newmie from Baywatch, in Genoa City? Sparks fly when Anita Hodges & Rita Lorenzo discuss child-raising techniques


"Hurry up Sam!" Chris called from the front door, two suitcases in his hand

"I'm coming! Just give me a minute!" Rita called back, as she placed a photo of their two children, Alicia and Daniel, in her purse. It was November 2nd, 2002, and the two Sams were going to visit one of Rita's friends who lived in Genoa City, Wisconsin. Alicia and Daniel were staying with Chris's mother, Anna Alexis. "Who would have thought it?" said Chris as he dropped them off at his mother's house, "That the great Anna Alexis would turn out to be a better grandmother after retiring from acting than she was as a mother while acting," he grinned. Chris was right. Anna seemed to be a natural grandmother who spoiled her grandchildren, but at the same time, she tried hard not to make the same mistakes that she had done with Chris, her mistake being that she chose her acting career over being a mother.

"Do you have the invitations and the tickets?" asked Chris

"Yes," answered Rita, holding up the wedding party invitations and the airplane tickets. She then tucked them into Chris's jacket breast pocket

Hours later, the Sams were on a flight to Genoa City, Wisconsin. "So," asked Chris, "tell me about your friend in Genoa City. What was she like?"

"Well, I don't know what to say really. I mean, we weren't great friends, but she wanted me to come to this party for her friend's wedding, I mean, we wouldn't have gotten an invitation otherwise... Let me start at the beginning… when I was younger, my parents, my foster parents, drove to Wisconsin for a vacation one summer. They had friends here, and I met this girl who was around my age. Well, we talked and hung out together while I was there, and then we exchanged addresses. I wrote a few times, but she never wrote back…."

"What did you say her name was again," Chris asked, trying to remember, "Annie? Nina?"

"Anita," Rita replied, thinking back to her childhood

In another plane, heading from Los Angeles.

"I can't believe that you're related to him," Alex Ryker said to her friend. She had been invited to come with him to his relative's house in Genoa City Wisconsin.

"Yep," said Mike Newman, or as everyone on the lifeguard staff called him, Newmie, "Besides, where'd you think I got my nickname from?" he joked.

"Wow," Alex said, "Victor Newman…."

"And that's not all," Newmie went on, "they invited us to a party that's being held in honor of the wedding of Victor and Nikki,"

"Isn't the party for the wedding usually held right after the couple get married," she said, remembering that he had said that they had gotten married over a month ago

"Yes, but I guess they wanted to have another one," he shrugged his shoulders

That night, at the party

Chris and Rita walked into the hall where the party was being held. Chris let out a low whistle as he saw the ornate statuettes mounted in various places around the hall and the huge glistening chandelier that hung from the ceiling. "Man," he said, still looking around the room, "Sam, your friend's friend must be loaded to be able to afford a place like this,"

"Yeah, well I heard that everyone's pretty well to do here," she replied. Chris looked at his wife, "Honestly Sam, I still don't know why you wanted to wear this black dress. I mean, that red one of yours still looks great you, and the green one as well. This black one is so… unlike you,"

"Well, I thought it was time for something different. Besides, aren't you supposed to wear black or white to these formal parties?" she grinned

Chris had worn a black T-shirt, dark gray pants and a royal blue sport coat, "Yeah, I guess so," he gave her the smile that he reserved for her alone.

Rita could have melted just then by Chris's smile, but then she suddenly saw someone she had been looking for, her friend, Anita. "There she is!" Rita thought, "Excuse me, kind Sir," she said to Chris, smiling and walking away

"Uh… ok," he replied to no one in particular, as he stood alone for a moment, in the immense hall full of strangers

Rita walked over to where a petite brunette woman was standing. It was Anita. "Anita? … Hi!" said Rita, smiling. Anita looked at her with one eyebrow raised, "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"It's me, Rita Lance… err… now I'm Rita Lorenzo. Remember? I came up one summer with my parents and we hung out together."

"Oh yes," said Anita, smiling wanly. She pulled Fredrick towards her; "This is my husband, Fredrick Hodges,"

"How do you do?" said Rita, shaking his hand

"Ah, you must be Rinnai, Anita has been talking so much about you," he blatantly lied

"Uh-huh," Rita replied flatly, mentally rolling her eyes.

"So …Rita, do you have any kids?" asked Anita, as her husband walked away

"Yes, A daughter, Alicia, and a son, Daniel," she said, taking a photo of them out of her purse, "And you?" She handed the photo to Anita

"Nice, very nice," said Anita, glancing at the photo and then handing it back to Rita

"How about you? Any kids?" Rita asked

Anita sighed loudly, "Yes, a teenage daughter, Brittany. You know how teenagers can be,"

"Uh… I guess so," replied Rita, thinking back to when she worked in the shelter for runaway teen girls.

"Anyway, Brittany can be such a pain sometimes… like just recently, she informed her father and I that she plans to forget about college and stay with her, ugh, boyfriend, Raul," she said, being one of the few in Genoa to be able to correctly pronounce his name

"Well, I'm sure you're worried about her education, and you're right in…" Rita started

Anita didn't let her finish, "Never mind her studies, she almost killed him and of course, Frederick and I are deathly worried about being sued. I'm sure you agree, right?"

"Excuse me?" asked Rita, perplexed and very surprised, "You're saying that you're more worried about being sued rather than your daughter's future and perhaps even the health of another person?"

"And as if that wasn't enough of a problem," said Anita, apparently not hearing Rita's remark, "Just the other day she told me that she knew what was important; Raul. So, I did what any mother would naturally do, I took action. The only way she'll ever understand is to hit where it hurts. Maybe now without her precious credit cards she'll wise up and realize that Fredrick and I am right and always were!"

"I can't believe you!" said Rita, furious to hear what Anita was doing to her daughter, "You didn't even attempt to talk with her, but just cut up her credit cards?"

"There's no way she'd listen to me or her father," replied Anita haughtily, "all she wants is that Raul!"

"Even so. But if you had explained to her that she should give her studies at least some importance and that this Raul would most probably wait for her. But no, you didn't even bother taking the trouble to do that!" Rita said, shocked. However, she pronounced his name correctly. Just then, a petite, blue-eyed brunette woman walked up to the arguing pair, "Hi," she said, "I'm Alex. Alex Ryker… I'm here with my friend and…"

Both women turned to Alex, "Hi," they said in unison, and then continued arguing.

"Where did she go?" thought Chris. It was hard to be in a room of strangers and just start up a conversation. He walked up to a balding, moustached man who was of average height, and looked just as lost as he was. "Hi," he said, "Chris Lorenzo, how's it going?"

"Going good. Hi, I'm Mike Newman, call me Newmie," he replied, "You here with anyone?"

"Yeah," Chris said, "my wife, Rita… You?"

"My friend Alex,"

"Oh, maybe I ran into him already,"

"I don't think so," said Newmie, "Alex is short for Alexis. We're both lifeguards,"

"Wow," replied Chris, "Rita and I work for the Palm Beach police, as detectives. We were the best of friends… I mean, we're still the best of friends." He grinned shyly

"I know what you mean, it's like that with Alex and I, we're best friends… but that's it," he said, with a preoccupied look on his face

"Don't worry," Chris said, patting Newmie on the shoulder, "You'll meet Ms. Right,"

"Yeah," he replied, grinning. They both laughed.  
"By the way," asked Chris, "Where's Alex. The way you talk about her, I feel like I've known her for years. And besides, I'm sure that Rita will want to meet her,"

"Oh, there she is. Alex is talking to those two brunette women over there," Newmie said, pointing to where Rita, Alex and Anita were arguing "Hey Alex!" he called out  
Alex turned around, and waved back. Chris's eyebrows shot up and his eyes grew wide, That's Alex?" he asked, thinking that she looked an awful lot like Rita

"Yeah," said Newmie, grinning.

"Oh," was all Chris could say. Just then, Frederick Hodges came up to the two men, "Hello boys, how are you both doing,", he said, putting an arm around both men's shoulders. It was strange for him to just walk up to others and be so friendly. He must have been drunk. "So, what do you think of that Abbot babe?" he said, his speech slightly slurred. Newmie knew a little about his relative's friends, "You mean that teenage girl standing there?" he said, pointing to a brunette teenage girl.

"No!" said Fredrick grinning like a fool, "That one, Jill" he pointed to an older woman, "Probably someone's mother," thought Newmie when he saw the woman. Within a few moments, Fredrick sauntered off to mingle with others.

Meanwhile, Alex had managed to pull Rita away from Anita's harsh words and over to where Newmie and Chris were standing. "Rita," she started, "I'd like you to meet Newmie. He's one of my friends from Baywatch,"

"Hello, how are you?" asked Rita, shaking Newmie's hand

"Hi," he grinned and then turned to Alex, "Alex, this is Chris Lorenzo. I see you've already met his wife,"

"Yes, Rita and I were having an … interesting conversation with Anita Hodges,"

Rita rolled her eyes; "She certainly has changed since I knew her,"

"You mean she wasn't that bad when she was younger?" asked Alex, her eyebrows raised

"No, when we were girls, and I came up here that one summer, she was… a bit distant as far as her thoughts, but she was certainly more friendly and warm,"

"I guess all that money turned her head," said Chris

"Exactly," replied Rita. She sighed, "I can only wonder how Brittany is doing with a mother like that,"

"Well," said Alex, pointing to a lean teenage boy with highlighted blonde hair, " I overheard from that boy that she has her own place and that she and Raul are living together now,"

"Well, that's something at least…" said Rita, lost in her thoughts.

"Sam, do you want something to drink?" asked Chris

"No, no Sam, it's ok. I'll be fine," Rita said, smiling and trying to push the thoughts of Anita and Brittany out of her mind.

The four of them walked to a table and sat down. After some talk about their respective jobs, their various nicknames and other things, Newmie brought up the topic of the arson case that was going on in Genoa. "I heard that Jack's wife, Phyllis, was the one who set the fire,"

"And I heard that it was his ex-wife, Diane," said Alex, remembering what she had heard some people talking about.

"Hmmm," said Chris, a sly grin on his face, "he ex-wife is alone at the pool house. Then it gets set on fire and then the new wife is missing from the wedding reception…."

Rita finished his thought, "it's not exactly a 'Silk Stalkings', but it sounds interesting,"

"Yeah Sam," he agreed.

"I heard this lady talk about the detective that they got working the case," said Newmie, "Webber, I think, is his name. Seems that he took over a week for this to get enough evidence to make a decent case,"

"An attempted homicide?" said Rita, "You know Sam, I bet we could have solved this one within two days, if we'd have been on it,"

"You're right about that," he turned to Alex and Mike, "of course we can't be running after bad guys all the time now, what with two young children to take care of, but years ago, Rita and I could have wrapped up a case like this one within two days,"

"Well, why don't you try to solve it," suggested Alex

Before Rita could reply, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and saw Anita standing there. "Excuse me Rita, I'd like to speak with you for a moment,"

Rita stood and followed Anita over to a corner of the hall. Anita turned around and said "Listen here, you might think you're hot thing coming from your Palm Beach, but around here, you're nothing. And don't you ever tell me how to raise my daughter!"

"If you're so furious with me, why did you bother inviting me to this party/" asked Rita, feeling both angry and bewildered

"Your name was only one of several," Anita's green eyes glowed fierily, "and do you think I would even bother making a guest list on my own? Your name must have been picked out an outdated record book by pure chance or else by mistake!"

"No," said Rita, her voice getting louder, "You called me here for some specific reason. Why?"

"What is wrong with you? Why would I even want to call you here? What could you possibly do for the people here?"

"I could easily show them the proper way to bring up a child. With love and by being there when they need you, not by throwing money in their faces when thy come to you with a problem! And by putting their needs first before your wants!" shouted Rita, not caring who heard her.

"How dare you try to tell me that I'm an unfit mother!" Anita yelled back. "Where is Fredrick?" she thought, "He could at least support me now"

"Oh, I don't need to be the one to tell you what kind of mother you are, I'm sure that some of the guests here could easily do that! Your daughter came to you and your husband for sympathy and warmth. When you turned a cold shoulder on her, what choice did she have? Hell, I've seen runaways who were in better shape that her!"

Anita gasped, "Just…go to hell!" she screamed and then stormed off angrily

Rita turned around and walked to a corner of the hall to think. "What is wrong with Anita. She's so wrapped up with her social life and money; she's become emotionally detached from her family. She was never like this when we were young, and it's not like she's intentionally a mean person… I guess she just has a problem connecting with people," she thought

Meanwhile, in Brittany and Raul's apartment, the couple was having an argument

"Come on Brit. why do you want to go see your mom now? I mean, she already hates it that we moved in together. Why do you want to make things worse?"

"You don't understand Raul," she said, mispronouncing his name for the umpteenth time, "she thinks I can't do anything without her and her money. I've got to show her that I'm independent; that I'm different, and not a spoiled brat anymore,"

"Fine, go on if you want to. I'm out of here," he said, pulling on his jacket

"Where are you going?" Brittany asked, her hands on her hips

"I don't want to be here when she is," he said, "I'm going to hang out and talk to Diego," he walked through the front door and closed it. As he walked off down the hallway, he thought, "Damn baby. I love you, but you got to learn how to say my name. It has two syllables! Two!"

Brittany walked into the hall where Victor and Nikki's party was being held. She saw her mother standing in a corner alone. She walked swiftly over to her and said, "Mother, you've got to come with me. I won't take no for an answer. There are some things we've got to talk about,"

Rita looked at Brittany, her eyes narrowing. Then the realization hit her, Brittany thought that she was Anita. "Um… alright Brittany," she said slowly, "Where did you want to go?"

"I can't talk here. We'll go to the apartment," she said, meaning the one that she and Raul had gotten

"Err…" Rita looked back, scanning the crowd for Chris

"Don't worry about Daddy," Brittany said, pulling Rita along, "He's probably won't miss you,"

When they reached Brittany and Raul's apartment, Rita slowly followed her 'daughter' in. Because Rita had on a black dress and was also petite, had dark brown hair and green eyes, Brittany thought she was her mother. "Mom," Brittany started, "I guess you know that Raul and I moved in together,"  
"Uh-huh," said Rita, sitting down on the sofa. Brittany stood before her mother, her arms crossed in front of her chest, "And I now what you're going to say. You'll say that he's not worthy of me, a Hodges. And that I should go on to college because I shouldn't hang around with gutter trash like him. Well Mom, I don't give a care what you think, because this is my life. Do you hear me, MY life!"

Rita took a deep breath, "Yes, I hear you," she said softly, "and you're right. It is your life. I should have seen that sooner."

"You would have if you'd been around more,"

"Yes, I have neglected my duties as a mother,"

"Yes, you have," said Brittany, getting more anger off her chest, "And why are you agreeing to all this? Why are you owning up to the fact that you were never a good mother, that you never loved me?"

Rita looked down; she was at a loss for words, "I can't believe that this girl thinks that her own mother doesn't love her. Perhaps that's the truth. That Anita doesn't love her…" the thought was quite painful for Rita. Just thinking about it made her feel like her heart was about to break "I do love you Brittany," said Rita, "It's just that… I've been caught up in other things,"

"Like making hordes of money?" she said sarcastically

"Well, I can see that my choices haven't yielded the best results,"

"You're damn right they haven't,"

"What would you like me to do about it?" asked Rita

At the party:

While Alex and Newmie went to get something to drink, Chris looked around for Rita. There was a slow dance number playing, and he just couldn't resist wanting to dance with her. Juggling their profession with raising two young children hadn't been easy, and they had often sacrificed romantic opportunities to instead be responsible parents. Chris was happy with the way Alicia and Daniel were growing up, but right now all he could think about was the him and Rita swaying on the dance floor, holding her close. Recently, she had disappeared somewhere and he couldn't find her. He stared hard into the crowd. "There she is!" he thought, and began walking towards her. "She must be talking to someone about something really important, 'cause she's got her back turned to me," he thought. As he waded through the crowd of people, he heard someone say, "I don't know why Jack puts up with Phyllis and Diane. Really, he should just take his son Kyle and leave those two crazies behind. I mean, the boy will grow up normally without those two nutcases around, and I'm sure Jack will be better off as well" Chris didn't understand a word of that statement, "Sam," he called out when he neared her. She didn't respond. "Sam," he called out again. She continued to ignore him. Chris couldn't figure out what was wrong. He tapped her on her shoulder. When she turned around, he got a dreadful shock. "Huh? You're not Rita," he said, looking surprised

"You're damn right. Do you want a cookie now?" Anita said sarcastically

"Err…" he mumbled, backing away. He turned around and walked back to find an empty table. He found Alex and Newmie sipping drinks at their table. "Mind if I sit down again?" he asked,

"Sure, go ahead," said Alex, smiling.

"You guys haven't seen Rita, have you?" Chris asked the pair

"Uh… no, I don't think so. Not since after that fight she had with Anita," said Newmie

Chris sighed, "I just wanted to dance with her… it's been so long since we had some time alone. Now that our two children are going to school, it's office in the daytime and homework and dinner at night, then off to bed for all of us, you know what I mean?" Chris said. He hadn't meant to pour his troubles out to Newmie and Alex, but he felt so bad just then. "I hope you don't mind me letting all this out," he said quickly.

"No, we understand," said Alex, smiling at Chris, "back at Baywatch, one of the head lifeguards, Mitch, has a teenage son, he still managed to go out and go on dates,"

"Yeah, I should know," said Newmie with a sly grin, "I set up most of those dates myself,"

Chris smiled, "Thanks guys, for listening to me,"

"Sure thing," replied Alex

"Maybe I should call Rita's cell phone," Chris thought, taking his out of his pocket

At Brittany and Raul's apartment

"I want you to be there for me," said Brittany, "I want you to accept Raul because he means everything to me,"

"Alright," said Rita, she could see how much Raul meant to Brittany. "Why couldn't Anita see this?" she wondered. Just then her cell phone began ringing

"And another thing…" Brittany stopped talking. "What was that?" she asked, "Of course, your precious calls are more important than me,"

"I'll just be a minute," said Rita, answering her cell phone, "Hello," she said

"Sam!" said Chris, sounding worried, "Where are you?"

"I can't really talk now," said Rita, not wanting to blow her cover

"Come on Sam, I need to know," said Chris

"Um… I'll have to call you back," Rita replied, hanging up her phone. She turned her cell phone off and swallowed hard, realizing what might happen next.

"Who's 'Sam'?" Brittany asked sarcastically. She had heard Chris's voice through the cell phone, "Is that what your boyfriend calls you? You're having an affair behind Daddy's back, aren't you?" remembering their earlier conversation at Gina's, a local restaurant.

"No Brittany, I'm…" but Brittany did not give her a chance to finish, "Don't give me that!" she shouted

Rita was starting to lose her temper, "I'm not having an affair Brittany!" she said, almost yelling

"Prove it!" shouted Brittany, "How can I even trust you; how can I believe a single word you say?"

"Because I'm not your mother," said Rita, feeling exasperated. Brittany stood there, her moth hanging open, "You're… not … my… mother?" she asked haltingly, her eyes widened

Rita closed her eyes, "What I mean is… your mother, Anita, is your mother, but I'm not her… my name is Rita Lorenzo,"

"Uh-huh…"

"I got in an argument with her over child raising techniques… and when you came into the hall looking for her, you mistakenly thought I was her, since we look alike,"

Brittany exhaled deeply, "So all that stuff about her… you being the one at fault and taking the blame… that was all false?"

"No… I feel that for the most part, it was her fault, but to know the truth, you're going to have to talk to her about it,"

Brittany rolled her eyes, "Whatever," she then sat down across from Rita, "You've met my Mom… she doesn't have many friends… why…why doesn't she love me? I mean, I don't care anymore… but why?"

Rita thought for a minute, "I can't be the one to judge her… but if I had to say something, I'd say that she's detached from her family. Not physically, but emotionally. There are some real barriers. I don't think she's intentionally a mean person. She just has a problem connecting with people,"

"Do you think she'll ever really accept Raul?"

"I really don't know what's going to happen," replied Rita, "In time, I hope she will."

Brittany stood up and turned around. Looking out the window she said, "It's really odd, that I'm talking to a total stranger about what she thinks about my mother. I mean, I don't care about her anymore... but… I hate to admit it… I do …a little,"

"Well, everyone cares about their family, even if they say they don't," said Rita, remembering her past, and how she had tried to forget about it for so many years. She stood up; "I better go. My husband will be waiting for me,"

"Uh… yeah, bye Rita," a somewhat lost look upon her face

"Are you going to be alright?" Rita asked

"Yeah, Diego will come home soon," she smiled weakly

"Alright. Good luck to you both," she said, smiling

"Thanks…."

At the party

Chris looked longingly at the doorway, hoping that his Sam would walk through any moment. When she did, he jumped up and almost ran to her. They hugged and he said, "Where were you? You didn't want to talk and when I tried to call you again, you had turned your cell phone off,"

"It's a long story, Sam," she replied

At their table, Rita explained what had happened, to Chris, Alex and Newmie. When she had finished, Alex said, "So what will happen to Brittany now?"

"I have no idea," said Rita, "but I'm hoping for the best,"

"Me too," replied Alex, "do you think Anita will ever let up on her?"

"I hope so," said Rita, "it's just hard for them both. I wish I could do something about it,"

"You did," said Chris, "you showed Anita what it means to be a real mother, and you showed Brittany that she really does care about her mother. That's something,"

"Well… I guess so," said Rita, still feeling down

"Cheer up," said Newmie, "you did your best. I'm sure things will turn out well for them both,"

"Thanks guys," she said to Newmie and Alex,

Newmie looked around, "Listen guys, I don't know about you, but this party is boring me to no end. What do you say we go do something else?"

"Like what?" asked Chris

"I don't know. How about getting some coffee?" he replied

"Sure, why not?" said Alex

"Ok, yeah," said Rita

"Then it's settled," said Newmie, getting up. Alex, Rita and Chris stood up too. As they were walking out of the hall, Alex asked, "Newmie, where's a good place for coffee?"

"Well, I heard that 'Crimson Lights' is pretty good,"

"That sound fine," said Alex. The Sams agreed. And with that, the four went out to spend a relaxing night in Genoa City.


End file.
